A sweet, thick drink of rice koji and cooked rice kept warm until the koji's enzymes turn the starch to sugar. Used as a drink, or as a sweetener with a creamy body in dressings, ice creams and puddings.
sweet · ricey · creamy
Kinds
Koji amazake
Sweet from the koji alone — no added sugar, no alcohol.
Sake-kasu amazake
A quicker drink of sake lees, sugar and water; faintly boozy.
Japanese grocers and health-food shops, in bottles or as a concentrate.
A little history
Sold on the streets of Edo-period Tokyo as a summer pick-me-up, though it's now drunk mostly in winter.
Worth knowing
Make it in a rice cooker on 'keep warm' with the lid ajar, or in a water bath, at around 55–60°C for 6–10 hours. Hotter kills the enzymes; cooler lets the wrong bacteria in.